UK academic sues university after losing role in critical race theory row

[RoyalCorgi]

Guardian story:

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/16/uk-academic-sues-university-losing-role-critical-race-theory-row-leeds-beckett

This is pertinent here for two reasons. One is that the academic who is suing Leeds Beckett is using the argument that "critical race theory" is a protected belief, using the Forstater case as a precedent:

"In June, finding that gender-critical views were a protected belief, the employment appeals tribunal said only views akin to nazism or totalitarianism were unworthy of protections for rights of freedom of expression and thought under the Equality Act."

The other is that critical race theorists tend to support the trans/queer theory agenda. In this particular case the academic in question was apparently sacked from her advisory role by Leeds Beckett University after her organisation tweeted to a black person first that he was a "house Negro" and then that he was a "coconut". Apparently these terms are part of standard discourse in critical race theory and so should be protected under the law.

And there was me thinking they were just terms of racist abuse...

From the horses mouth

fb.watch/7t0nfqa68A/

Pod cast on critical race theory

it’s staggeringly racist to expect all black people to share one hive mind on politics or anything else? How does this reductive viewpoint survive even a moment’s thought?

It doesn't. It only survives in certain academic and political circles where it's very unlikely to be threatened by a thought.

The term coconut is a jibe, often used in a light-hearted manner amongst 2nd generation immigrants. I have often used this to refer to myself and has in no way ever been considered "racist".

N*ger is used affectionately between friends too; I still wouldn't expect to get away with calling a political opponent one.

We could also note the Australian use of 'bastard' as a term of endearment. In the trenches of Gallipoli, the Turks came to believe it was the name of the Australian God, so often did they call it in aid.

That is not to say that when an Australian call you this, he is necessarily being friendly.

Another Aussie jibe between mates is the term first applied to the new migrants from Greece, Italy and Croatia etc in the 50s & 60s, who in White Australia at that time were known as the wogs.

@highame your comment about CRT letting wealthy people off the hook is really interesting. I know this is an imposition but if you had the time to expand on it I’d be so fascinated.

This might be of interest:

In passing I did wonder whether the username @upthefrogs is a reference to Aristophanes.

[quote upthefrogs]@highame your comment about CRT letting wealthy people off the hook is really interesting. I know this is an imposition but if you had the time to expand on it I’d be so fascinated.[/quote]
You might find this useful:

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10624-017-9476-3

@Jaysmith71

I've mentioned Kenan Malik's book 'From Fatwa to Jihad' in another thread. In it, he wryly recounts that in the space of a few short years he went from being referred to as Indian, then Pakistani, then black, then Asian, and finally Muslim.

There is an American writer who wrote a book critical or identity politics, who says that after years of being frisked when getting on planes, and being an Arab, or "brown", he had the wrong opinions and became white.

It never ceases to amaze me that after centuries of academics/theologians/ideologues promoting racial, ideological, and religious divisions, and the resultant horrible outcomes, that here we are in the 21st century being called on to cheerlead the current incarnations.

@nauticant

It never ceases to amaze me that after centuries of academics/theologians/ideologues promoting racial, ideological, and religious divisions, and the resultant horrible outcomes, that here we are in the 21st century being called on to cheerlead the current incarnations.

What is weird is that it seems to have worked simply by telling people that it is the only way to be anti-racist, and people who don't believe it are bigots.

It’s like when Sainsbury’s tried to install segregation and try and pass it off as diversity 🧐

And the worse thing you had progressives who are supposed to be against this shit cheering it on

And some of us like guys you might wanna look at a history book no such thing as “good”racial segregation

outside of rappers and 15 year old boys I never heard of another black personally
refer to another as nigger

I have to say that (and America) were what I was thinking of.

Clearly n*ger is worse but context is king. I think this particular use of coconut (and my friends use it jokingly too) is overtly racist abuse.

I would disagree about academic circles in terms of black people being a monolith I would say the bulk of the TV media bbc worst offenders treat black people as a monolith

I think that's fair but there seem to be certain specific academic niches which claim to talk for (all) black and 'indigenous' people a lot. To be fair the origins of CRT have lots of value but the current expressions of it seem stupid at best and downright racist at worst.

I gather this story was discussed on Jeremy Vine and Aysha Khanom got some support from Trisha Goddard who questioned whether it was white liberals who had termed the language racist.

twitter.com/ak8619R/status/1427986861750947847

To be fair the origins of CRT have lots of value but the current expressions of it seem stupid at best and downright racist at worst
@donquixotedelamancha
I think this is it, and there are deep analogies with how gender ideology distorted feminism. What TRAs did so Simone de Beauvoir, some proponents of TRA do to Kimberle Crenshaw.

sorry my last sentence should read CRT to..
The idea is that you can believe that systemic racism is a barrier to black people in the labour market and in education without believing that mathematical rigour is a tool of white supremacy

some proponents of TRA do to Kimberle Crenshaw

Crenshaw has stated that the principles of intersectionality apply to transwomen. From what she's said I'd expect her to be a TWAW proponent.

Yeah, people sometimes try to give the impression that Crenshaw is totally divorced from what intersectionality has become. I don't really buy that. Sure, I imagine there are particular expressions of it she thinks are bad or stupid, but to me she always seems quite fine with the basic ideas that a lot of CRT groups champion. I don't know what she says about TWAW but it's not obvious to me she'd object.

I wonder too though about the statement that if you don't believe in CRT you don't believe there can be institutional or systemic racism. I don't think that's true, both are possible outside of a CRT narrative. The main difference to me is that from the perspective of CRT, all disparities are about racism, and all systems, at least the ones we have, are systemically racist, and there seems to be no way to prevent or change it either. And very little recognition that there may be other forces at work that are neither racism or part of the intersectionality spectrum.

CRT is like a hammer that only sees nails, and says anyone claiming there are screws or bolts is covering up racism.

LobsterNapkin@ Racists exists exampled by the lady who the tread is about however I don’t believe in CRT it’s a racist theory I am black I believe systems can be Racist I don’t believe all systems are Rasict

And the U.K. is one of the least Rasict county’s and would rather be black here than any were else

I have experienced Rasict abuse in the 90s it was form the far right in 2021 it’s from the far left 🤷‍♀️

I have experienced Rasict abuse in the 90s it was form the far right in 2021 it’s from the far left 🤷‍♀️

There is a youtube video with John McWhorter, where IIRC he was speaking to Glen Lourey, and he talks about a conversation he had with a prominent American neo-nazi, I think it must have been an interview. And he describes how chilling he found it when the guy said how much he loves CRT, because it is just a mirror image of what he thinks and believes. And when people are taught to think that way, it is very very easy to turn them to his way of thinking, especially if they themselves are underprivileged in some way. Because it's basically about race essentiallism, in the 19th century sense.

@LobsterNapkin that made me think of this Ryan Long sketch - woke and racist agree

I think I’m a bit thick. I know nothing about critical race theory so have taken this quote from the article at face value ‘ Critical race theory says race is a social construct used to oppress people of colour and which begets systemic racism’. Can someone explain to me how this is racist?

I get that her tweets were out of order, used racist terms, seemingly for shock value, to make a point. Actually, I also don’t understand how her tweets supported CRT.

Critical race theory says race is a social construct used to oppress people of colour and which begets systemic racism’. Can someone explain to me how this is racist?

That's not racist, it's a statement of the obvious and not at all limited to just CRT. The problem comes from some dumb extrapolations of CRT.

The next jump from this that all white people contribute to systemic racism. That gets a bit sweeping and simplistic for my taste, but you can see the point.

Next you might assume that all black people are oppressed. I've seen suggestions that employers shouldn't expect black employees to be punctual or accurate 'because it's colonialist'.

The real batshittery is when you argue that some black people are 'politically white' because they don't see themselves as victims.

Before you know it you end up with the most important, defining, immutable characteristic of people being their skin colour.

My old housekeeper (moved to Texas now) is Latina. She told me that she was criticized by her friends and family for "trying to be one of the white girls" because she was careful in her language and was following her doctor's advice to lose weight (she had very high BP, diabetes, high triglycerides) and advising them to do the same, given that they had the same problems, as a result of their diet and not taking exercise
Weird anecdote..
My Latin in laws were from v poor 1st generation immigrant background. They were all very aspirational and encouraging to all their children, and took exercise and health seriously. Being fat, unhealthy and using bad language is not, in my really quite extensive experience of being part of a massive Latin family, a typical part of Latin culture!
And I can’t quite believe that someone claimed poor Damilola was murdered because Black boys call each other coconuts?! When I was growing up coconut was a fairly mild slur really ( I don’t know about now) but I’m certain it has not contributed to the murder of children.
Honestly, I think some of you make it up as you go.
The academic should not be using racist slurs towards anyone in social media, that just seems obvious. She can believe what she likes but public insults are poor behaviour.

The next jump from this that all white people contribute to systemic racism
Do all men contribute to systemic sexism? I would say yes, probably, whether they realise it or not.

Here's a summary of critical theory, of which critical race theory is a particular example, that I found helpful:

Critical theory upends the universal values of the Enlightenment: objectivity, rationality, science, equality, freedom of the individual. These liberal values are an ideology by which one dominant group subjugates another. All relations are power relations, everything is political, and claims of reason and truth are social constructs that maintain those in power. Unlike orthodox Marxism, critical theory is concerned with language and identity more than with material conditions. In place of objective reality, critical theorists place subjectivity at the center of analysis to show how supposedly universal terms exclude oppressed groups and help the powerful rule over them. Critical theorists argue that the Enlightenment, including the American founding, carried the seeds of modern racism and imperialism.